18/19 Weeks

We find out what we are having on Wednesday!

Progress on the nursery is great! It's all painted, window treatments up, some wall art, rug..... pics to come soon!

We had our prenatal class this last Saturday - Jon's going to be a great coach. We also got a tour of the birthing part of the hospital.

I am enjoying my new wardrobe - some maternity pieces, some not. The regular styles now are so forgiving when it comes to pregnancy (leggings with big tops, flowy cardigans) that many of the tops I already own are working just fine.

Friday's Peacock Find - a holiday wish...

Earlier this year, I ordered new business cards/labels and such from a wonderful online printing company called Colorful Images. At the time, I had seen this peacock card and kept it in mind for the holidays. I was glad too, that I was able to add another family member to the feathers. Even though we don't know who you are yet little baby, everyone is excited for you! So since I can't send an actual card to all of you dear friends in blog land, I wanted to post it here to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season!!!

The other "new" experience this holiday season is that since I moved my studio down into the sunroom, that is where we usually had our tree. So this year, I set it up in the living room and it is quite enjoyable! I am glad I had a place for it in front of the window so that it can been seen from outside still!

Brrrrrr...........

I made this necklace this weekend, when I was expecting a huge snow storm to hit. We didn't get nearly as much snow as they were saying, but it was still plenty cold and has been all week. I really felt like the icy blues in this piece were perfect for what was going on outside. But the 2 peacocks, nuzzled together, was a good interpretation of what was going on inside. Jon and I spending our free time curled up on the couch watching Christmas movies like Elf and Rudolph. Or sipping tea and reading. Or working on the nursery. Enjoying our time together - just the two of us - before our lives change forever. Of course, we have our 2 little dogs too, who are the lights of our lives! Our little shadows who follow us around the house, just waiting for us to settle down somewhere so they can occupy our laps.

The lovely peacock focal is from Nan at Spirited Earth. I also used faceted pressed glass, pale blue shell, and silver rounds.

All Tied Up...

The title of this post is a pun about the true subject that I will eventually get to: ribbon. But let me just explain about what I have been "tied up" with, preventing me from quality time in the studio....

I know everyone is in the same boat right now - the stress of the holidays! I have been feeling great in this second trimester, but the burst of energy I have has not been focused on jewelry (to my dismay). But instead to decorating the house, running errands (aka: shopping), wrapping presents, racking my brain for ideas for presents, cleaning and organizing the house, working on the nursery, getting caught up at work so I can enjoy my upcoming 2 weeks off. Luckily, I had moved my studio from the spare bedroom down to our sunroom back in June. However, lots of odds and ends were left in the spare bedroom to deal with later. Well, later has come and now it is an overwhelming task. The entire room and closet has been emptied out, with all of it's contents taking up space in my upstairs living area. This is so that Jon can paint. But even after the paint is dry, this stuff will not be going back into the room so it needs to find a new home. Whether that be to a new owner, the basement, who knows!?!?!

Anyway, the only jewelry I was able to work on was a few pieces to submit for consideration for a great new book that will be coming out. You've probably heard that Lorelei Eurto and Erin Siegel will be authoring A Jewelry Accord: making jewelry using cording, ribbon and lace. I am so happy for the success of these ladies and can not wait to see the completed product of all of their hard work! While they have already selected the 3 artists to contribute to the book, I was excited anyway to challenge myself with these materials that I don't work with often. The main material I decided to use was ribbon. I probably decided this because a.) as a scrapbooker, I had a lot of ribbon on hand and b.) it was probably the most challenging of the 3 materials to me. Here are a few of the pieces I made, which are now listed in my Etsy shop:

Orange Owl: I selected this owl ribbon as the subject to work around. The orange and brown swirled polymer clay rounds from Pam Wynn were the perfect match, so I started wire wrapping them from some wooden links. I then added some pressed glass orange rounds and brown ceramic dot beads as well. A few flower accents and detailed bead caps give the finishing touch.

Boho Butterfly: This is one of those pieces that came together as a surprise - it was not really planned. I had these geometric shaped bezels that I filled with butterfly images and resin. When I saw the ribbon wrapped loops laying next to them, I thought the unique combination of colors and textures fit together perfectly so I started linking them together. To end the necklace, I used more patterned ribbon which I had the perfect size end crimps for.

I plan to work on some more jewelry this weekend. We are supposed to get some snow, so what better way to spend some cozy time inside! Christmas lights and music on, candles lit, and a hot cup of tea! I have a few custom orders to finish for Christmas gifts, and then I hope the inspiration hits to make some fun new things!!!